Improvement in spark-arresters



i. NITED STATES EUGENE FONTAINE, 0F FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPARK-ARRESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 139,05 3, dated May 20, 1873 application filed April 17, 1873.

To all fwhom it may concern:

Beit known that I, EUGENE FONTAINE, of Fort Wayne, county of Allen and State of Indiana, have invented a Locomotive Spark- Arrester, of which the following is a specitication:

My invention relates to a spark-arrester for a locomotive smoke-stack, especiallyT adapted to a locomotive in which coal is used for fuel; and it consists primarily in the combination of a peculiar detlecting-cap on the top of the smoke-stack, a side box or chamber into which the smoke is deflected by said cap, with awiregauze cover for the 'upward escape of smoke and vapors, and a hopper-shaped bottom and descending conduit-fl ue to conduct the sparks, cinders, and other solid particles downward to the ground, or into a receiving box or receptacle.

ln the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a sectional side view of my apparatus, and Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

A is an ordinary cylindrical smoke-stack, and B a deilecting-cap on the top ofthe same. C is a smoke box or chamber located in front of the smoke-stack, opposite said delectingcap B, but it may be located in the rear. D is a conduit-pipe for carrying oft' the cinders, and E a box for receiving the same. The' delecting-cap B is rectangular in form, viewed in horizontal.cross-section, but its back plate B is so curved as to form its top or cover as well as its back wall. C is a side box or chamber, into which the steam, smoke, and other escaping products of combustion are deflected hy the cap B. This box or chamber is in form something like a double cone, having its largest circumference at below which it is hopper-shaped, while the upper part tapers inwardly up to the ring-ange F, in which its wire-gauze cover f has its seat. From the base of said ring-flange F, in the interior of the chamber, there is a downwardly-projecting annular conical flange, I, which encircles the interior of the chamber, except the throat or opening under the curved plate b, through which the smoke enters from the cap B. The conical form ot this lian ge I makes a V-shaped annular space between it and` the outer wall of the chamber, as shown at n. The back and upper part of the deecting-cap B has a supplemental curved plate, b, hinged at b2, and adjustable by means of a screw, b1, to modify and affect the direction of the draft. I is a detlecting-plate ofthe same width as the ange I, extending across the chamber from side to side of said ange, to which its two ends are attached. J is another detlecting-plate extending across the lower portion ot' the chamber U, forming an inclined plane sloping toward the (Linder-escape flue D, there being an opening from the upper side of said inclined plate at j into said flue D. E is a box located under the lower end ot' the pipe D to receive the ashes, cinders, and other solid particles precipitated in the box C, and discharged through said pipe or flue'. This box is hinged at its outer left-hand corner to a vertical post, E', so that it may be swung away from under the pipe D and emptied of its contents through a trap-door, e, in its bottom. Said cinder-box E connects with the pipe'D by a detachable and exible joint, a, which is formed by a ring on a spring-seat in a socket, a', on the top of the box E, and the upper part ofthe ring is so beveled that, as the socket passes under the end of the pipe, the ring will be depressed, but will rise again when fairly under the pipe, so as to form a sufficiently close joint. /Vhen the box E is closed under the pipe it is se cured by a latch, g, and its inner side is supported by an angle-iron, h, attached to the front of the steam-box under the arch. The box E, however, may be wholly dispensed with, in which case the cinders and other solid substancesI precipitated in the steambox G will be thrown upon the ground through the tlue D.

The smoke, steam, and other products of combustion passing through the smokestack are delected by the curved back and top of the cap B into the box or chamber G, and the downward pitch of the front part of said curved plate b directs the current toward the bottom of said box, the inclined plate I cooperating with the curved plate b to throw the current downward. This downward tendency ofthe draft precipitates all the cinders and solid particles in the box C, while the smoke and other vapors, from their levity, speedily mount up again and pass out through the wiregauze cover f. The inclined plate J auw the downward current before it reaches the bottom ot' the hopper, while the cinders and other solid particles fall upon said inclined plate, or on the hopper-bottom beyond it; and in either case they will run down the incline into the escape-tine D, and will be conducted by it either into the cinder-box E or to the ground, as the ease may be. The inclined annular flange I arrests the upward tendency of any sparks .and cinders that may be carried up around the Wall of said chamber C by the reaction of the steam and smoke in said chamber.

It will be seen that there is no opening in the inclined side of the hopper-bottom of the smoke-chamber opposite to the smoke-stack, upon which the sparks and cinders are chieij y thrown by the current from the deiiecting-cap B, and the opening for the escape of the cinders being in the inclined side of the hopper next to the smoke-stack, and covered by the. deeeting-plate J, the sparks and fiery particles cannot be driven directly down the escape-flue D by said current, but are detained in the chamber C until the tire is eectu-ally extinguished bythe steam in said chamber, so that few it' any live sparks ever escape therefrom, either through the wire-netting or the flue l).

H is an ordinary head-ligh t, Which forms no part of my invention, and is shown in the drawing merely to point out its location.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the smoke-stack, the deiiectingcap Witllcurved top, the smokechamber with Wire-gauze cover and hoppershaped bottom having no opening in the inclined side opposite the smoke-stack, and the escape-tine for the cinders, all constructed and arran ged to operate substantially as described.

2. In combination with the deflecting-cap B, the smoke-chamber C, and escape-flue D, the hinged cinder-box E, constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

3. In combination with the adjustable curved plate b of the deflecting-cap and the smoke-chamber U, the delecting-plate I in said chamber.

4. In combination with the detlecting-cap with its curved plate b, and the smoke-chamber with its hopper-shaped bottoln having no openingin the inclined side opposite the smokestack and discharge-tine, the detiecting-plate J, arranged to operate substantially as described.

5. -In combina-tion with the defiecting-cap B and smoke-chamber C, the annular conical tiange I, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. In combination with the escape-pipe D and hinged cinder-box E, the flexible and detachable joint a, substantially as described.

EUGENE FONTAINE.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH L. CooMBs, J. J. UooMBs. 

